Hotel One Shot Prado 23

As hotel concepts go, it’s not a difficult one to get your head around: simple, sunny, clean-lined, colorful design, with a city-center location, personable service, at a nightly rate that doesn’t require a phone consultation with a financial planner. In a perfect world it wouldn’t be hard to find, but in this world a hotel like Hotel One Shot Prado 23, in Madrid, is something rather special.

Spanish hotel chains, lately, excel at this sort of thing, and if this one is any indication, One Shot won’t be a one-shot for long. (In fact there’s a second already in the works, but never let facts spoil a good joke.) With wood floors, white walls, selectively applied bursts of vivid color, and an inspired selection of modernist chairs and ultra-contemporary fixtures, this is a look that just about anybody can wear well — and no longer is it the exclusive province of the so-called “luxury boutique.”

It bears mentioning that the concept is fairly hands-off; besides a tea-and-coffee setup on each floor, there's no food or drink program to speak of, and you'll likely have to handle your luggage yourself. That said, it’s perfectly placed for doing the arts-and-culture circuit of Madrid, and as a pied-à-terre it offers just enough comfort to be getting on with — this isn’t a hotel for holing up, it’s a home base, and an exceedingly sharp-looking one at that. To take full advantage, rent an electric bike and ask for a custom contemporary-art itinerary.